how do you care for HID headlights?

[Ranatsu]

Originally Posted by infinite012

That's still fairly significant. Sure, you most likely won't notice 750 lumens decrease, but if you compare a brand new bulb to a bulb with 1500 hours on it, you will be liking the output of the new bulb more.

I would agree.. I'm sure the difference would be noticeable considering headlights tend to get hazy by then as well.

[stilletto]

Don't physically touch the bulbs. That's about all..

[BRZnut]

If you park in a garage don't keep the lights set to auto since the Hids will go on each time you start the car and then go off as soon as you drive out of the garage during the day. Because, as someone posted above, a quick on and off can shorten the bulbs life.

[Sony]

There is some misinformation in this thread...as somebody who works with HID's nearly every day of different types let me try to clear some of this up as well as expand upon some others posts.

Originally Posted by KSC

Stop using them. Mount candles on the front of your car instead.

Seriously, though, HID's last like 2000-3000 hours or so. Just turn them on when you need them and turn them off when you don't. When they burn out, buy new ones.

edit: The only thing I've ever heard, was that turning them on/off multiple times over a short period could effect life, but that was from a single source on the internet, that I can't give any credence to.

^^ This is true, the way HID's work is they use a VERY high voltage starter charge to arc between the two electrodes and do what we call in the entertainment industry "striking an arc." The voltage needed to strike an arc when the lamp is cold is LESS than what is needed to strike an arc when the lamp is hot. Cold Strike voltage is usually in the 5,000 to 10,000 volt range. The voltage for a Hot Re-Strike this is about 50,000 volts or more. The reason that this is important is because the normal operating voltage of HID's is much lower, on average depending on the lamp and it's size it's between 10 and 130 volts. Under normal operating voltage the lamp suffers little wear, but during striking and high voltage basically molecules are blasted from the surface of the positive electrode (anode) and the gap between anode and cathode becomes slightly larger and molecules from the anode are deposited on the glass of the lamp. The larger the gap, the more difficult it is for the ballast to strike an arc and the lower the lumen output as well as lumen output is reduced as the glass becomes more cloudy due to the destruction of the anode. Strike and Re-Strike is where most of the wear on a HID lamp occurs, more on a Hot Re-strike due to the increased voltage needed to strike an arc when the lamp is hot.

Originally Posted by infinite012

Buy your bulbs from theretrofitsource.com. Buy only OEM bulbs (Philips or Osram are the two that TRS sells, both at ~$100 shipped for a pair) - do not buy "OEM quality" because that's a lie. Do not buy TRS's own Morimoto bulb - these are China made bulbs that suffer the same QC issues as the "OEM quality" bulbs that are sold by many vendors.

D1x, D2x, D3x, D4x. These are all bulb types. Different projectors/manufacturers require different bulb types. S or R - S stands for projector use; R stands for reflector use. Think about the difference between, say, a 2004-2005 STI and the 2006-2007 STI. The 04-05 used reflector HID and the 06-07 used projector HID.

D2S - This is the bulb type our (BRZ) projector headlights use.

^^^ Good advice, always buy OEM when it comes to HID's

Originally Posted by infinite012

Sylvania is owned by Osram. They're good to go.



HID bulbs don't "die," but they do wear out and lose output over time. If you had half of the light output of a brand new bulb on those 100,000 mile bulbs, you either never turned your lights on or you just didn't notice how damn dark it was.



HID bulbs don't last forever. They lose output.

^^^Sylvania is the bastard budget son of Osram....the quality is NOT the same. Buy Sylvania lightbulbs for your home...don't buy their HID's you will be disappointed in the quality. Osram, GE or Phillips is the way to go.

Whoever told you HID bulbs don't "die" was lying. While low wattage/voltage HID's like what you find in a car have a very long life and most likely will last many years, there WILL come a day where the gap between anode and cathode becomes too large for the ballast to strike an arc. Whether that day is after 1 year...or 8 years depends on the lamp and it's usage. That day however is the day the lamp officially dies.

In the entertainment industry our HID Lamps range in life on average from 400 to 1500 hours and from 150 to 7,000+ watts or more in some cases. Because output is SO important to us (no one likes a dark stage) we tend to replace out lamps more often than most people at about half their rated life, so between 200 and 750 hours. We also replace them early because the closer they become to their rated life (especially with the higher powered lamps of 500+ watts) the most likely they are to explode due to age. This is less of an issue with low wattage HID's found in the automotive industry as they are usually far more robust since they are meant to cope with the vibrations of a vehicle as well as there is less stress on a lower wattage lamp. On our high powered lamps, if one were to explode, is could cause us a lot of money in costly repairs to our equipment so we tend to be more cautious.

Originally Posted by infinite012

That's still fairly significant. Sure, you most likely won't notice 750 lumens decrease, but if you compare a brand new bulb to a bulb with 1500 hours on it, you will be liking the output of the new bulb more.

750 lumen decrease on a lamp that only outputs about 3000 lumens is significant. The only reason you wont notice is because it happens gradually and both lamps age evenly, eventually it will become dark enough that you will have to strain your eyes to see at night while driving. It will be more noticeable in bad weather when visibility is already impaired. If you were to put them side by side they would be very obviously different. A 750 lumen drop in a larger lamp of 30,000 or 50,000 lumens may not be noticeable, but you will never find a lamp that powerful in the automotive industry.

Originally Posted by evand

Just order off amazon or ebay they are pretty cheap.

^^^ bad plan...the lamps you usually find on ebay are cheapo knockoffs and will not have the same quality as an OEM lamp...you may as well be throwing your money away.

Some other info that people may be interested in!

Always replace your HID headlamps in pairs! If one goes...the other is most likely not far behind.

NEVER touch the glass of a lamp with your bare hands, this goes for both HID and Halogen lamps. The oil from your hands will weaken the glass when it is hot and will cause the lamp to shatter and explode, this is more of an issue with HID's which have a higher operating temperature than Halogens but the practice should be used with both types of lamp. In HID"s this could mean you need a new headlight enclosure on top of a new lamp...very expensive.

If you do touch the glass of a lamp with your hands, not all is lost! Grab an alcohol wipe or some rubbing alcohol and a paper towel and wipe the outer surface of the lamp down and allow to dry. This should remove any oil from the lamp surface.

ALWAYS disconnect your battery when replacing your HID's....the combined voltage and amperage contained in the HID Ballast FAR MORE THAN enough to KILL YOU. God forbid you forget and someone starts your car up or even puts it in ACC/ON mode without starting the car while you're working on it and you have the headlight stick set to auto. You will learn quickly at minimum what it feels like to get Tasered...and at maximum, you'll be on the ground in a seizure suffering from cardiac arrest when the electricity of the lamp strike jumps your heart and stops it.

Other than that HID's do not require much maintenance and they do last longer and have higher lumen output over Halogens.

Some people call HID's in car's "Xenon's" and while unlike normal HID's, automotive HID's do contain some Xenon gas for faster startup, they are just an HID with some Xenon gas inside.

True Xenon's operate at around 300atm (Atmospheres) of pressure when turned on and hot, thats about 4400psi and around 10atm (147psi) when cold. Because of this, special Kevlar body armor, masks and gloves are required when we replace these lamps.

[Brzetto]

Originally Posted by BRZnut

If you park in a garage don't keep the lights set to auto since the Hids will go on each time you start the car and then go off as soon as you drive out of the garage during the day. Because, as someone posted above, a quick on and off can shorten the bulbs life.

Automatic headlight sensors are also very sensitive to shadows, if you start the car in a shadow with the auto function on they will come on. Imo manual headlight functions trump automatic function.

[WolfpackS2k]

I don't use the automatic headlight feature. I'm smart enough to know when I should use the headlights.

[N8marsh]

I've heard after a HID bulbs goes out it is best to replace it ASAP because the ballast will be damaged from trying to 'strike an arc' on a shot bulb.

Just like grounding spark plugs when cranking, give the voltage somewhere to go.

[Skurj]

Op is in Canada, I think the hids will be on whenever the car is...

[Sony]

Originally Posted by N8marsh

I've heard after a HID bulbs goes out it is best to replace it ASAP because the ballast will be damaged from trying to 'strike an arc' on a shot bulb.

Just like grounding spark plugs when cranking, give the voltage somewhere to go.

This is true, the ballast will continue to try to strike an arc a prescribed number of times before it gives up and stops trying, but it's best to replace the lamp ASAP to prevent damage or wearing out your igniters (the part of the ballast that created the high voltage needed to strike the arc).

[Sony]

Originally Posted by Skurj

Op is in Canada, I think the hids will be on whenever the car is...

No, the BRZ comes with separate DRL's, they are the LED's just above your fog lamps. They turn on whenever the parking brake is released. DRL's do not have to be the main headlights, and in fact most of the time they aren't to save on headlamp life. On the Canadian version of my Tacoma the turn signals act as DRL's. The FRS runs the low beam halogen's through a large resistor which halves their output and they use that as a DRL. The GT-86 uses the little LED Eyelash next to the HID lamps.

[Skurj]

Originally Posted by Sony

No, the BRZ comes with separate DRL's, they are the LED's just above your fog lamps. They turn on whenever the parking brake is released. DRL's do not have to be the main headlights, and in fact most of the time they aren't to save on headlamp life. On the Canadian version of my Tacoma the turn signals act as DRL's. The FRS runs the low beam halogen's through a large resistor which halves their output and they use that as a DRL. The GT-86 uses the little LED Eyelash next to the HID lamps.

Doh! Guess I find out tomorrow!

[DeepHunta]

I'm doing nothing to mine. Same here, first time owning a car with HID.

If it breaks then I'll just get rid of the car and buy the newer model, hopefully the BRZ STI

[Brzetto]

Originally Posted by Sony

No, the BRZ comes with separate DRL's, they are the LED's just above your fog lamps. They turn on whenever the parking brake is released. DRL's do not have to be the main headlights, and in fact most of the time they aren't to save on headlamp life. On the Canadian version of my Tacoma the turn signals act as DRL's. The FRS runs the low beam halogen's through a large resistor which halves their output and they use that as a DRL. The GT-86 uses the little LED Eyelash next to the HID lamps.

They look pretty cool.

[CTB727]

Tips for extending the life of HID lights? Don't use the auto feature. Every time you pull into a garage, etc., the lights turn on for a brief period of time and are pretty much on for no reason at all.